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Widows -2018 Film

Widows is a 2018 heist film directed by Steve McQueen from a screenplay by McQueen and Gillian Flynn, based upon the 1983 British television series of the same name. The plot, set in Chicago, follows a group of women who attempt a heist in order to pay back a crime boss after their criminal husbands are killed on a botched job. A British-American co-production, the film features an ensemble cast consisting of Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Jacki Weaver, Carrie Coon, Robert Duvall, and Liam Neeson.

Widows premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on November 6, 2018 and in the United States on November 16, by 20th Century Fox. The film has grossed over $76 million worldwide and received praise for its direction, screenplay and performances (particularly Davis, Debicki and Kaluuya), with critics crediting it for blending "dramatic themes with popcorn thrills".[3][4] It received several award nominations, among them one for Davis, who was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Plot

Harry Rawlings, a renowned thief, is killed alongside his partners during a botched robbery. His widow, Veronica, is threatened by crime boss Jamal Manning, from whom Harry and his partners stole $2 million. Jamal needs the money to finance his electoral campaign for alderman of a South Side ward, where he is running against Jack Mulligan, the next-in-line of a dynastic family who have historically dominated the alderman position. Veronica discovers Harry's notebook, which contains a detailed plan for a heist of $5 million. She decides to carry out the plan to repay her debt to Jamal, and recruits two of the other widows, Alice and Linda, to assist her. The fourth widow, Amanda, does not show at their initial meeting; when Veronica visits Amanda and learns she has a newborn child, she opts not to mention the heist plan to her. Alice buys the getaway car and guns, while Linda is tasked with deciphering a blueprint in Harry's plan. Alice uses a real estate executive with whom she is in a transactional relationship to identify the blueprint as a safe in Jack Mulligan's home.

When Veronica's loyal chauffeur is murdered by Manning's people, Linda recruits Belle, her children’s babysitter, to be their driver. Veronica visits the Mulligan home to ask Jack for protection from Manning—a request he rebuffs—and to case the premises in advance of the heist, while Belle scans the external security. Veronica acquires the code to the safe by blackmailing the CEO of the Mulligans' security company, using incriminating photos left in Harry's notebook. The group commences the heist but is interrupted by Tom Mulligan, father of Jack and alderman incumbent, who shoots and wounds Alice; Linda returns fire and kills him. They escape with the money, but are caught by Jamal's brother Jatemme, who steals it from them. The group chases down Jatemme, ramming his van off the road into a median, killing him, and retrieves the money. The group then splits up and goes their separate ways, with Veronica returning to the hideout. Harry, who had faked his death and set up his partners after being hired by Jack, arrives at the hideout to take the money from Veronica so that he can build a new life with Amanda, whose newborn child is his. Veronica kills Harry after he attacks her.

Jack wins the election on a wave of public sympathy following his father's murder. Linda reacquires the store she lost upon her husband's death; Alice sets up her own business, and Belle moves away. With Manning no longer a threat, Veronica donates much of her share to endow a library project in her and Harry's deceased son's memory. Veronica and Alice encounter each other in a diner. They initially ignore each other, but Veronica approaches Alice outside, smiling.

Release

Reception

Box office

As of February19,2019,[update]Widows has grossed $42.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $33.6 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $76 million, against a production budget of $42 million.[1]

In the United States and Canada, Widows was released alongside Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Instant Family, and was projected to gross $12–18 million from 2,803 theaters in its opening weekend.[30] It grossed $4.2 million on its first day, including $600,000 from Thursday night previews. It ended up making $12.3 million over the weekend, finishing fifth at the box office. Deadline Hollywood stated that the low debut was because of a "lack of urgency" in the advertising, and that the studio should not have relied on the good reviews alone to sell the film.[31] Other publications, including Business Insider, said the film should have been released outside the busy November frame, and that the perceived marketing toward specifically African-American audiences, and its R-rating, limited the film's appeal.[32] In its second weekend, the film dropped 33 per cent to $8.2 million (and $10.5 million total over the five-day Thanksgiving frame), finishing eighth.[33]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 91% based on 361 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Widows rounds up a stellar ensemble for a heist thriller that mixes popcorn entertainment with a message – and marks another artistic leap for director Steve McQueen."[34] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 84 out of 100, based on 57 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[35] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars; social media monitor RelishMix noted online responses to the film were "mixed".[31]

Owen Gleiberman of Variety praised McQueen's direction and Davis' performance and wrote, "The strongest aspect of Widows is the way the movie gets us — and keeps us — rooting for its desperate-living heroines. They're past the point of just wanting to have fun (the subtext of almost every heist movie); they're less concerned with comeuppance than sheer survival."[36] Eric Kohn of IndieWire gave the film an "A-", saying the film "works as well as it does due to the way McQueen juggles substance with entertainment value to such eager subversive ends. The movie engages with topics as complex as sexism, police brutality, and interracial marriage, but it still delivers on the car chases and gunplay. No superhero movie digs this deep."[37]Dirty Movies considered it one of the best films of 2018, describing it as McQueen's best work since Hunger.[38] Representing more critical views, Leah Greenblatt at Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "C+", arguing that it's "not clear exactly what kind of movie(s) Widows wants to be" and that it feels like a "crazy-quilt patchwork of other, better films".[39]

Accolades

Top ten lists

Widows was listed on numerous critics' top ten lists for 2018, among them:[40]